US rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended higher Tuesday on a bounce in quiet trade after three straight days of lower closes, traders said. But rice kept within recent ranges as slow US harvest underpins the market while slow demand looms. November closed 9 cents up at $13.50-1/2 per hundredweight; January ended 9-1/2 up at $13.76-1/2.
Spreading remained a feature as firms roll their November positions into the back months before first notice day for deliveries on Friday. Some 500 November-January spreads traded. Harvest lags in top producer Arkansas where 80 percent of the rice was off the field, compared to the usual pace of 97 percent by late October. But farmers made big progress from a week ago when 66 percent was harvested.
South Korea bought 43,091 tonnes of US rice to meet part of its quota under a World Trade Organisation agreement. Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, plans to sell 950,000 tonnes of rice from its stocks through government-to-government deals by end of 2009-commerce minister.